Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation presents ‘Where We Wander’

The Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation (MTRP) is pleased to present an exhibition featuring four award-winning artists Kenda Francis, Ellen Parry, Julianne Ricksecker and Pamela York.

This exhibit will be on display in the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center Art Gallery May 21 – June 16, 2017.  The public is cordially invited to a reception in honor of the artist on Sunday, June 4, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

About the Artists:

Kenda Francis

The Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation (MTRP) is pleased to present an exhibition featuring four award-winning artists Kenda Francis, Ellen Parry, Julianne Ricksecker and Pamela York.

This exhibit will be on display in the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center Art Gallery May 21 – June 16, 2017.  The public is cordially invited to a reception in honor of the artist on Sunday, June 4, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

About the Artists:

Kenda Francis

Kenda Francis was born and raised in San Diego California, in an eastern suburb where she was able to experience open spaces and wildlife as well as pets of many types.  Responsibility for dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, birds and lambs sparked a respect and connection with nature. Good high school teachers encouraged an already growing interest in art and photography.

Studying art and animals has been a passion since those early days. Kenda has a Bachelors from San Diego State University with a degree in painting, printmaking and photography, as well as a Masters Degree in painting from California State University, Chico.  She has also studied zoology with associates from California School of the Redwoods in Eureka. In order to teach art, she earned two teaching credentials from National University.

Kenda has worked to perfect her skills and her message with art and photography and has found that her work must help animals in a way that only she can craft. She donates earnings to Lions, Tigers and Bears, an Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Alpine California, and she has contributed to events and exhibitions of several Southern California Animal Shelters. She is currently working on a new series of paintings and apparel about Jaguars, to help raise donations for a non-profit Jaguar Project in Brazil, and has goals to organize events involving art, animals and education.

With an impressive exhibition record in just the last three years, Kenda is getting her work seen in many prestigious environments and venues throughout California and the world.  With her paintings and her photographs, care and love for animals and the environment is clear.  This current exhibit with the overall emphasis of the color green is just a small example of the primal and healthy places on earth that Kenda has visited, absorbed and recorded.  Please see her website at www.kendafrancis.com for more examples of her recent work and projects including pet portraits, custom painted apparel, graffiti style paintings and more.

Ellen Parry

Ellen Parry enjoys landscape painting, whether done en plein air – on site – or in the studio. The backcountry and ranchlands of northern Baja California provides her inspiration. The unspoiled vistas are reminiscent of Southern California in the 1920’s and 30’s. 

Ellen graduated from San Diego State University and earned her MA after working in the private sector as a Graphic Designer. As a Visual Arts teacher, she now draws from skills acquired in both fields. In her paintings, she celebrates the peace and beauty found in nature.

Julianne Ricksecker

San Diego artist and printmaker, Julianne B Ricksecker, works in a variety of media to express her vision of the serenity of the natural world. Her creative process involves experiencing a place through hiking, making sketches and taking photographs. Then she returns to the studio to create work from these studies and her memories and feelings.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Julianne Ricksecker lived in New Mexico, Rhode Island, France and Japan before settling in San Diego, California in 1975.

She has exhibited in more than 200 exhibitions from the local to the international.

Pamela York

Pamela has friends and family in anti-poaching, animal conservation and various environmental protection fields that led her to rework her nature photographs primarily from her travels to Kenya. Pamela wanted to maintain the beauty of the wildlife but alter their appearance as their reality has been altered, sometimes by fading portions or creating an apocalyptic mood, and so the Vanishing Creations series in this exhibit was born. These living beings are facing extinction at a staggering pace and she hopes to raise awareness and encourage others to help protect these irreplaceable creations.

The MTRP Visitor and Interpretive Center is located at One Father Junipero Serra Trail, San Diego, CA 92119, and it is open daily from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.  Admission is free.

The MTRP Foundation was formed in 1988 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit public benefit corporation.  For more information about the MTRP Art Program, please contact Vicky DeLong, Art Coordinator, at 619-286-1361 or Maggie Holloway, MTRP Foundation, at 619-668-3280.